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'95 Legacy wagon rear caliper issue


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Had my Legacy in to have the winter tires put on some rims a few days ago before our long drive out to Vancouver. When I picked the car up the guy at the garage said the rear calipers need replacing. I should've asked exactly what they saw that made them think they needed to be replaced but didn't. The car stops ok, I don't hear any noises when braking. Can't pull the car off the road just now as the wife's driving it. What should I look for when I get a chance to check out the rear brakes? 

 

Richard 

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Look through the slots in the road wheel at the rotor. Do you see any scratches on the rotor? If not, I would not worry too much about it. If the garage you were at that put on your tires is part of a "chain" of tire, or car repair stores, to me it would bring up the concern that they were simply looking for more work to do to your car, if it needed the work or not. Chain stores are bad about doing that IMHO.

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It was a small, independently run brake/tire place that stuck the tires on and reckoned there was something wrong. I've checked the outer surface of both rear rotors and they nice and shiny, so at least I know the brakes are working. I tried to explain to my wife that the front brakes do just about all the stopping anyway, so I'm not too worried. Once it gets a bit warmer I'll take both rear wheels off and see if I can find anything wrong with them.

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It was a small, independently run brake/tire place that stuck the tires on and reckoned there was something wrong. I've checked the outer surface of both rear rotors and they nice and shiny, so at least I know the brakes are working. I tried to explain to my wife that the front brakes do just about all the stopping anyway, so I'm not too worried. Once it gets a bit warmer I'll take both rear wheels off and see if I can find anything wrong with them.

Good plan...................Once it gets a bit warmer I'll take both rear wheels off and see if I can find anything wrong with them.

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  • 6 months later...

I'm a newbie/amateur on my first real brake job.

 

My 95 Legacy Lsi made it to 188k and now the rear brakes are making bad noises. I looked and found the left rear rotor rough and pitted. My eyes aren't very good but I'm guessing the pad on that side, and likely the rest, are wo down to da ground.

 

Oh yeah, the "Brake" dashboard light was lit when I fired it up this morning, but it went out after a few miles. Right before I started hearing the grinding/rubbing brake noises...

 

Oh yeah, and I started getting a steering wheel shake when I hit the brakes. It felt mostly on the left side.I probably needed an alignment but instead had the front wheels spun and it got a little better. I figure my front rotors are warped/worn. The local O'Reillys gets $10/rotor to resurface. If I have to pull them anyway, I might as well go with new, eh?

 

So, my plan is to order Rock Auto KOE444 with 4 rotors, 4 sets of pads and, seemingly, all one would need for the job.

 

I truly value the opinion of the members of this forum. What is the suggested approach?

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personally, I went with new on my 95... but the rears looked like this:

 

rear%20rotor%20inside.jpg

 

fronts were a bit better...

 

front%20rotor.jpg

 

When you get to doing the job - pull the pads out and make sure the caliper slides on the pins smoothly and easily (betting they don't), and also that the piston compresses into the bore easily. If either are hard to do, get new (reman) calipers & mounting brackets as well.

 

Yes, you can get rebuild kits much cheaper, but it just isn't worth the hassle, or potential safety risks, to me to spend the extra time and effort to clean things up to try to re-use the old, rusty ones...

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